


Prelude to the Demon

by CarnivalofBrokenDolls (yourrhinestoneeyes)



Category: Suicide Squad (2016)
Genre: Drama, Gen, Johnny back story, Joker back story, M/M, back story
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-16
Updated: 2016-11-24
Packaged: 2018-08-31 09:21:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8572918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yourrhinestoneeyes/pseuds/CarnivalofBrokenDolls
Summary: Johnny is happy and content where he is now, the right hand man of the new reigning king of Gotham. The thing is there are days where he looks at his boss and feels regret about how things got here.





	1. Chapter 1

Johnny Frost was a man who was not to be fucked with. He was a man who had worked alongside, under, and against some of the biggest meta humans and psychopaths that tried to run Gotham city. He saw them all rise and fall, he saw them mostly get captured under the darkness known as the Batman. Johnny wanted to say he’d been lucky, but luck was a concept created by those who believed in superstitions and God. Johnny didn’t believe in any of that, he knew he was smart and that was how he survived the city so long. After years of being in the front line of gang wars he decided to lay low, decided to work with smaller groups.

That was how he had met Jack.

He had technically seen the kid before; he’d seen his terrible standup comedy act in a bar. He begrudgingly had to admit that the guy had the potential to be funny, but half way through a joke he would just tense up, stutter, and then mumble that he had forgotten the punchline. Johnny had seen the guy get beer bottles thrown at him, he’d seen him sulk offstage on the verge of tears. He never thought all too much about the guy, just thought he was another spineless anxiety ridden kid who would eventually be devoured by the scum of the city.

Which is why it had taken him by surprise when Jack approached the gang that Johnny had joined. 

Jack stood in front of them wearing a cheap wrinkled suit, his brown hair was falling over his face and he repeatedly tried to push it back with a shaking hand. His demeanor just screamed that he was ready to piss himself with fear if he hadn’t already. He fidgeted, he shifted his weight from one foot to the other, his light blue eyes darted from each man at the table until they finally landed their anxious gaze on Johnny. 

Johnny kept eye contact, he showed no emotion as he stared up at the man who was obviously no threat to them or any other lifeform.

“I s-see you guys ‘round here a lot, I know what you guys do.” 

The man to Johnny’s right, a burly man named Kyle pulled out his pistol and set it down on the table.

“Yeah?”

Jack put his hands up in front of himself, “I-I don’t mean anything by it, but uh I c-could really use your help. You guys can help me, can’t you?”

Johnny picked up the gun, he hid it beneath the table. He didn’t know what it was about the kid, but he knew he was trustworthy. 

“Take a seat,” 

The young man looked from Johnny then to the chair in front of him, he made quick work of sitting. He spent a second trying to find just the right way to sit like he was trying to come off as confident and mature, but he was just a kid. If he were any older than twenty-three, then Johnny would be shocked.

“What do you need kid?”

“I got a wife, she’s pregnant, an-and we live in this really shit apartment downtown y’know? I thought I could get us out of this place with my comedy act, b-but that doesn’t seem to be going well.” He nervously laughed, he looked to Johnny then looked down at the table.

“So what do you want from us?” Kyle asked seeming almost bored with the situation.

“I was wondering if you guys maybe had a job I could assist you with.”

“You got any skills, ever rob anybody before?”

“Well I, I’m real good at hiding, I’m a fast runner.”

Kyle laughed, the brown-haired boy seemed to shrink into himself when he was being laughed at.

“We’ll help you out kid, what’s your name?”

Johnny would spend his life regretting saying he’d help him out, he’d regret learning the boy’s name.  
“Jack”

There was a trusting look in the kid’s eyes when he looked up at Johnny, there was a look in his eyes like he thought he had found his new best friend. He wanted to punch that fucking look off the kid’s face.

“Alright Jack, I’m Johnny Frost; we’ve got a job for you. Meet us here again tomorrow night, about this time and we can go over the plans.”

He could feel Kyle glaring at him, he could feel the entire gang of idiots glaring holes into him. Johnny found himself smirking as he looked at Jack, there was something kind of charming about the crooked smile that appeared on the boy’s face as he started to thank him repeatedly.

Once Jack was gone from the bar Kyle smacked Johnny’s arm.

“What the fuck are you thinking telling that little shit we’re going to help him?”

He shrugged, “I don’t know there’s something about him, guess I just feel generous.”

He’d come to wish he hadn’t been so ‘generous’.


	2. Chapter 2

When the group of them convene again Johnny notices that Jack is trying his best to look put together and professional. There’s enough hair gel in the guy’s hair to make it look shiny and stiff, he had the strongest urge to drag him into the men’s room and force him to wash the shit out. He did give the kid props though that he wanted to be impressive, he wanted to appear to be useful. If it had just been the two of them that night, he might have offered him a couple thousand dollars, and given him some sound advice.

It hadn’t just been Jack and Johnny though, Kyle and three other goons had been along. They sneered at the young man, laughed when he stuttered.

“S-so what’s the job?”

“We’re going to break into the old ACE chemical plant, we’ll go through there and into a connecting building.”

“Hey I used to work there.” Jack chimed in.

“Oh yeah? So, you should be a pretty good help when it comes to getting around the place.” Kyle commented.

Just an hour before Jack had arrived Kyle had been saying how useless the brunette was and how they should just take him out into a field and shoot him in the back of the head. He’d seemed a bit surprised and agitated when Johnny hadn’t responded all too well to the suggestion, he had made a snide remark about Johnny having a thing for the little moron.

“Y-yeah I still remember a lot of the lay out and even where the safes are kept. See I told ya guys, I can be a real help to you.”

He hated how naïve and excited the kid was, he hated how he fidgeted excitedly in his seat. There was a light in his eyes, he had an eagerness that you usually only saw in children.

The next fifteen minutes were spent going over plans, more thorough plans. Kyle told Jack that they had done this before, that they had helped guys like him in the past. It was a bold face lie, but the kid was too naïve and stupid to see through it. They presented the red hood, one they claimed they had made, but Johnny had found it hidden in the Penguin’s office back when he still worked for the crazed little bastard. Something had compelled him to steal it, God knows why.

Now there it was sitting on a table, Jack picked it up and examined it. There was something about it that made the whole group uncomfortable, but they weren’t about to voice it. No wonder the old man had kept it hidden.

“Nobody will know it’s me?”

“Not a soul, if things go the way they’re supposed to then nobody will see us.”

“And my wife won’t ever have to know about this?”

“Not a thing,” Johnny reassured.

“I hate lying to her, told her I had an act tonight.”

“Just a couple lies Jackie and then the two of you will be living like royalty.” 

Jack smiled at him, smiled because despite barely knowing the older man he felt he could trust him. 

This guy was attractive; Johnny couldn’t help but to think it. If he worked harder on his appearance and his stuttering, then he would be the perfect con man one day. Thankfully he knew or at least he thought that something like that could never happen, Jack would turn bad for one night, and then go back to a world of sunlight and white picket fence happiness.

When Kyle and the other men left, Johnny opted to stay behind, to keep Jack company. He shouldn’t have, his gang gave him odd looks before leaving them there. He knew they knew something was going on, but nobody knew what was going on. 

He bought shots of whiskey for Jack and himself, told him since his wife thought he was going to be out until eleven that they might as well hang out for a bit.

He knew he shouldn’t spend time casually conversing with the younger man, he knew he shouldn’t be buying him drinks, and asking him personal questions.

“How did you meet your wife?”

“At a club, she saw my act; I bombed per usual, but she thought I was funny. She’s always telling me how talented I am, she believes in me. God knows why.” He smiled to himself shaking his head.

“You nervous about the job?”

The younger man let out a heavy sigh, he pushed his fingers back through his hair.

“I’m nervous about everything really. I’m nervous about the job, I’m nervous that Jeannie is going to find out, and I’m nervous about becoming a dad. I swear I’m a total wreck, I’m on meds for anxiety, but sometimes I don’t think they help all too much.” 

He wanted to offer some sort of reassurance or comfort, but that would make it too personal. There was something about the younger man that made him want to tell him things would turn out alright.

“Don’t think too much about it, just let things go the way they’re supposed to. I promise it’ll work out the way that it’s meant to.”

Jack smiled at him, a crooked smile that again brought up the question of just how damn young this kid was. 

“Thanks Johnny”

He wished he wouldn’t thank him for possibly ruining his life.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long to get done, I hope you guys like it.

Jack was late.

His lack of showing up didn’t bode well with the men that Johnny was working with. They told him about how they shouldn’t have trusted the guy, how he had probably been a plant sent to them by the GCPD. He looked like he could be a nephew or son of Jim Gordon, it was possible that he could have been a plant. Johnny was adamant that Jack was indeed not a plant, he wasn’t any relation to Gordon. He was truly just some guy, just some guy who was late to their meeting. 

Secretly he was fine with it if the blue-eyed boy skipped out on this deal, if he decided this was stupid, and not worth the risk.

One of the doormen approached the group, he had his eyes locked on Johnny.

“Hey Frost there’s a guy outside, he wants to talk to ya.”

“Who is it?”

The other man shrugged, he glanced back over his shoulder as if he expected to see the stranger behind him.

“Fuck if I know, guy looks like Hell though. He told me to come and get you, he’ll meet you out front.”

“Why can’t he just come in here?”

“Look man I’m not exactly the messenger boy, I’m only doing this cause the guy was begging me to.”

With a heavy sigh Johnny got up from his seat. He shoved past the doorman and made his way through the slightly crowded bar and out the double doors. Once outside somebody grabbed him by the arm attempting to drag him off to the side. Johnny grabbed the stranger by the wrist pulling hard until he had them down on their ass, he pulled his gun out from the inside of his suit jacket and pointed it down at the man on the ground. He’d been ready to put a hole in the stranger’s head until he came to realize who it was sitting there looking up at him through horrified blue eyes.

“Jesus Christ Jack, this isn’t the kind of city you just go and grab a guy in.” He advised as he put his gun back.

He reached a hand out offering to assist the younger man back to his feet, it wasn’t until Jack was standing again that he got a good look at him. 

There was blood staining the front of his white dress shirt, blood stained his shaking hands. For the life of him though Johnny couldn’t see any wounds on the smaller man, he looked perfectly intact minus his already pale complexion seeming even paler.

“I’m sorry, I-I almost didn’t show up.” He was quick to apologize.

“What in the ever-loving fuck happened to you?”

Johnny wasn’t prepared for it when Jack started to cry, he was even less prepared for it when the smaller man fell against him burying his face against his chest as he sobbed. Naturally he wanted to shove the young sobbing mess off him, but against better judgement he loosely wrapped an arm around his small waist. He guided the two of them away from the too busy entrance of the bar and off to a darker area where they were less likely to be stared at. The last thing he needed were too many people taking notice of him holding a blood-soaked man.

“Jack what happened, what did you do?”

He didn’t want to assume that the younger man had killed somebody, but in his lifetime Johnny had seen many blood-soaked men and most times the blood was a result of violent crimes.

“I-I didn’t do anything, I swear. Oh God there was so much blood.”

“Hey you gotta tell me what the hell happened.”

He took the younger man by the shoulders holding him at a distance.

“I…. I went home, th-the door was open when I got there. I just thought y’know that maybe Jeannie forgot to close it or something, sometimes that happens. There was music playing on the record player, I-I found her…. Oh god she, oh god the baby…..”

He was back to gross sobbing, he covered his face with his stained hands. 

“Hey Jackie come on ya gotta keep talking to me.”

“I can’t do this, I’m sorry, I’m sorry” 

Jack shook his head, his brown hair flopped down over his face. The taller man pushed the thick brown locks out of his face. He found himself feeling bad, even feeling a bit scared by this situation that he had never been in before. 

“Keep talking, what did you see?”

“Somebody got in, she let somebody in, and they murdered her. They slit her throat. I should have been there, I-I could have kept this from happening.”

He didn’t push him away when the smaller man collapsed against him again. Jack wrapped his arms around Johnny’s waist, he buried his face against his chest and continued to cry. Apologies were whispered in his soft nearly feminine voice between heavy sobs. Johnny placed a hand on the back of his head ruffling his sweat soaked hair.

For some reason, he thought this could be his fault. Somebody they crossed could have seen them with Jack, could have followed him, and decided to send a message by knocking off this kid’s wife. It was a dumb thought, he had no way of knowing, but he couldn’t help it. 

Knowing the way that Gotham worked he knew it was probably some petty thieves, shit got out of hand and in the panic, they ended up killing her. He logically knew that he had no part in the crime that had taken place, but he knew that this was the last place Jack needed to be.

“Hey kid calm down, there’s nothing you could have done.”

“I could have fought them or they could have killed me instead of her.”

Once more Johnny pushed the smaller man off him, Jack wrapped his arms around himself in a sad attempt at holding himself together.

“Don’t pull that hero shit. She died and there’s nothing you could do to change that, got it?”

The younger man didn’t respond, tears still rolled from his eyes. All the harsh crying left his skin flushed and caused his eyes to almost seem to glow, Johnny hated to admit just how beautiful it was.

“Now I need you to stay right the fuck here, I’ve got some clean clothes in the car.”

Still no response, no movement. 

Johnny left him there to run to the car that was parked around the back of the building. He wasn’t entirely sure what the plan should be at this point. He knew the guys he was currently associating with would go after Jack or at least try to go after him if Johnny sent him home. He considered just handing the guy a few thousand dollars, driving him to the outer city limits, and telling him Gotham was poison. He wasn’t sure that Jack would listen, he wasn’t sure the guy had all the pieces together in his brain now.

When he returned with a clean shirt he found the smaller man right where he had left him. There was a look in his eyes that was off putting, for how beautiful and harmless he looked there was something there. There was something that gave the older man chills, but he didn’t have time to think about that now.

He took the other man by the arm and lead him inside the building, they quickly made their way back to the restroom. Thankfully for them there was nobody in there, just them. 

“Change and wash the blood off too, you look like you got out of the slaughter house.”

It took him by surprise when Jack laughed. It wasn’t exactly a normal laugh, it was manic and broken. Jack stopped laughing when Johnny took his face in his hands and forced him to look him in the eye.

“Look I need you to do what I say. Change shirts, wash her blood off your fucking hands. I need you to look like you’ve got your shit together, alright?”

“W-we’re still doing the hit?”

“Yeah we are. Look if it were just us then I wouldn’t be making you do this, but those guys out there will find you and fill you full of bullets if you try and leave this deal.”

After a moment of tense silence Jack nodded slowly in response, there was a look of acceptance and understanding.

“Good boy”

A small smile appeared on the younger man’s face at that.

While Jack changed into the shirt that Johnny got for him the room was quiet. Mostly the older man stood off to the side watching him and making sure he did as he had been instructed. By the time he was washed up he looked as put together as he possibly could, it almost seemed as if he was putting himself into a state of denial.

They didn’t speak again until they were about to leave the restroom.

“You ready?” Johnny inquired

“I guess….Heh when I went to the morgue earlier, when I looked at her body I just told myself she’s sleeping. She’s gonna wake up, we’re supposed to be having twins; a boy and a girl.” 

The younger man looked off wistfully, that not quite right look was in his eyes again. There was something broken inside of him, something that told Johnny the last thing he needed to do was force him into a job this stressful with guys who would take no real pity on his situation.

He placed a hand on the back of Jack’s neck his thumb and forefinger brushing over the hair at the nape of his neck.

“Come on Jackie”

He hadn’t known what else he was supposed to say to him.


End file.
